Guide to MLA In-text (or Parenthetical)Citations Citation formats An in-text citation must include just enough information for the reader to locate the source in your list of works cited and the place in the source where the borrowed material appears.The following models illustrate the basic text-citation forms and include unusual sources. Author not named in text.
If you have not named the author in the sentence, provide the author’s last name and the page number(s).
For example: One researcher concludes that “women impose a distinctive construction on moral problems, seeing moral dilemmas in terms of conflicting responsibilities” (Gilligan 105-106).
Author named in your text.
If the author’s name is already given in your text, the citation required is the page number only.
For example: Carol Gilligan concludes that “women impose a distinctive construction on moral problems, seeing moral dilemmas in terms of conflicting responsibilities” (105-06).
A source with two or three authors.
Give the last names in the text or in the citation.If the names are given in the text, just give the page number(s) in the citation.With three authors add commas and the word and as well as a comma before the third name.
For example: As Frieden and Sagalyn observe, “The poor and the minorities were the leading victims of highway and renewal programs” (29).
According to one study, “The poor and the minorities were the leading victims of highway and renewal programs” (Frieden and Sagalyn 29). With three authors.
Follow the same format as above.
For example: The textbook by Wilcox, Ault, and Agee discusses the “ethical dilemmas in public relations practice” (125).
One textbook discusses the “ethical dilemmas in public relations practice” (Wilcox, Ault, and Agee 125). A source with more than three authors.
If the source has more than three authors, list all of the authors OR the first author’s name followed by et al. (the Latin abbreviation for “and others”).Your in-text citation MUST match the works cited page.
For example: It took the combined forces of the Americans, Europeans, and Japanese to break the rebel siege of Beijing in 1900 (Lopez et al. 362).
It took the combined forces of the Americans, Europeans, and Japanese to break the rebel siege of Beijing in 1900 (Lopez, Blum, Cameron, and Barnes 362). A source with numbered paragraphs or screens instead of pages.
Give the paragraph or screen number and distinguish them from page numbers after the author’s name.
For example: Twins reared apart report similar feelings (Palfrey, pars. 6-7).
A source with no page or other reference numbers.
If you cite an entire work rather than a part of it, the citation will not include any page or paragraph number.In this case, try to include the author’s name in your text, so that the parenthetical citation will not be needed.Remember that the source must appear in the list of works cited.
For example: Boyd deals with the need to acknowledge and come to terms with our fear of nuclear technology.
Almost 20 percent of commercial banks have been audited for the practice (Friis). Citing work by an author of two or more cited works
If your works cited list includes two or more works by the same author, your citation must include the author’s work you are referring to.The title must be in the text or in the parenthetical citation.
For example: At about age seven, most children begin to use appropriate gestures to reinforce their stories (Gardner, Arts 144-45).
A source that is anonymous
If you cite work that has no author, shorten the title for the in-text citation.
For example: One article notes that a death-row inmate may demand his own execution to achieve a fleeting notoriety (“Right”).[The complete title is “The Right to Die.”]
A source that is a government publication or a work with a corporate author.
If the name of the organization is long, fit it into the text to avoid an intrusive citation.
For example: A 2005 report by the Hawaii Department of Education predicts an increase in enrollments (6).
An indirect source
If you want to use a quotation that is already in quotation marks- indicating that the author you are reading is quoting someone else- try to find the original source and quote directly from it.If you do not use the original source, your citation must indicate that your own quotation of it is indirect.
For example: George Davino maintains that “even small children have vivid ideas about nuclear energy” (qtd. in Boyd 22)
Two or more works in the same citation.
If you use a singular parenthetical citation to refer to more than one work, separate the reference with a semicolon.
For example: Two recent articles point out that a computer badly used can be less efficient than no computer at all (Gough and Hall 201; Richards 162).
Where to place citations The position of in-text citations accomplishes two goals: (1) it clarifies exactly where your borrowing begins and ends; (2) it keeps the citation as unobtrusive as possible.The citation does not have to be at the end of the sentence.
For example: The inflation rate might climb as high as 30 percent (Kim 164), an increase that could threaten the small nation’s stability.
The inflation rate, which might climb as high as 30 percent (Kim 164), could threaten the small nation’s stability. The small nation’s stability could be threatened by its inflation rate, which, one source predicts, might climb as high as 30 percent (Kim 164). When the summary or paraphrase of a source runs longer than a sentence, clarify the boundaries by using the author’s name in the first sentence and placing the parenthetical citation at the end of the last sentence.
For example: Juliette Kim studied the effects of acutely high inflation in several South American and African countries since World War II.She discovered that a major change in government accompanied or followed the inflationary period in 56 percent of cases (22-23).
When you cite two or more sources in the same paragraph, position the authors’ names and the parenthetical citations so that readers can see who said what.Use transitions to clearly mark different sources: For example: For some time, schools have been using computers extensively for drill-and-practice exercises, in which students repeat specific skills such as spelling words or using the multiplication facts.Jane M. Healy, a noted educational psychologist and teacher, takes issue with “interactive” software for children as well as drill-and-practice software, arguing that “some of the most popular ‘educational’ software…may be damaging to independent thinking, attention, and motivation” (20).Another education expert, Harold Wenglinsky……. (Does it Compute? 21). In a later article, Wenglinsky concludes that …. (“In Search” 17). *All of the above information was borrowed fromThe Little, Brown Compact Handbook by Jane E. Aaron.The examples are exact copies of the examples found in the about referenced source Work Cited ** Aaron, Jane. The Little, Brown Compact Handbooks with Exercises.New York: Pearson, 2007
Citation formats
An in-text citation must include just enough information for the reader to locate the source in your list of works cited and the place in the source where the borrowed material appears. The following models illustrate the basic text-citation forms and include unusual sources.
Author not named in text.
Author named in your text.
A source with two or three authors.
According to one study, “The poor and the minorities were the leading victims of highway and renewal programs” (Frieden and Sagalyn 29).
With three authors.
One textbook discusses the “ethical dilemmas in public relations practice” (Wilcox, Ault, and Agee 125).
A source with more than three authors.
It took the combined forces of the Americans, Europeans, and Japanese to break the rebel siege of Beijing in 1900 (Lopez, Blum, Cameron, and Barnes 362).
A source with numbered paragraphs or screens instead of pages.
A source with no page or other reference numbers.
Almost 20 percent of commercial banks have been audited for the practice (Friis).
Citing work by an author of two or more cited works
A source that is anonymous
A source that is a government publication or a work with a corporate author.
An indirect source
Two or more works in the same citation.
Where to place citations
The position of in-text citations accomplishes two goals: (1) it clarifies exactly where your borrowing begins and ends; (2) it keeps the citation as unobtrusive as possible. The citation does not have to be at the end of the sentence.
- For example: The inflation rate might climb as high as 30 percent (Kim 164), an increase that could threaten the small nation’s stability.
The inflation rate, which might climb as high as 30 percent (Kim 164), could threaten the small nation’s stability.The small nation’s stability could be threatened by its inflation rate, which, one source predicts, might climb as high as 30 percent (Kim 164).
When the summary or paraphrase of a source runs longer than a sentence, clarify the boundaries by using the author’s name in the first sentence and placing the parenthetical citation at the end of the last sentence.
- For example: Juliette Kim studied the effects of acutely high inflation in several South American and African countries since World War II. She discovered that a major change in government accompanied or followed the inflationary period in 56 percent of cases (22-23).
When you cite two or more sources in the same paragraph, position the authors’ names and the parenthetical citations so that readers can see who said what. Use transitions to clearly mark different sources:For example: For some time, schools have been using computers extensively for drill-and-practice exercises, in which students repeat specific skills such as spelling words or using the multiplication facts. Jane M. Healy, a noted educational psychologist and teacher, takes issue with “interactive” software for children as well as drill-and-practice software, arguing that “some of the most popular ‘educational’ software…may be damaging to independent thinking, attention, and motivation” (20). Another education expert, Harold Wenglinsky……. (Does it Compute? 21). In a later article, Wenglinsky concludes that …. (“In Search” 17).
*All of the above information was borrowed from The Little, Brown Compact Handbook by Jane E. Aaron. The examples are exact copies of the examples found in the about referenced source
Work Cited **
Aaron, Jane. The Little, Brown Compact Handbooks with Exercises. New York: Pearson, 2007